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Employment Law

Paying nonexempt employees a salary? Be sure to get agreement on hourly rate

07/05/2012

Determining the amount of overtime pay depends on identifying an em­­ployee’s hourly rate for the first 40 hours. That can sometimes be more complicated than it sounds, especially for organizations that pay their hourly employees a set amount for their entire workweek, including overtime.

Does Texas have any unusual protected classes?

07/03/2012
Q. Other than race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, age and disability, are there any other protected classifications under Texas law that might limit an employer’s right to terminate an at-will worker employed?

Supreme Court: Pharmaceutical reps exempt from FLSA OT rules

07/03/2012
The U.S. Supreme Court in June ruled that pharmaceutical sales representatives are indeed outside salespeople under the terms of the Fair Labor Standards Act in a case that could have far-reaching effects on other wage-and-hour issues.

Was Plano dismissal a layoff–or age bias?

07/03/2012
An electrician with 25 years of service to the Plano Independent School District has sued, alleging he was fired because of his age, not because the district needed to cut staff.

Longview nursing home slapped with retaliation suit

07/03/2012
A Tyler nurse is suing the nursing home where she once worked, claiming she was fired in retaliation for filing an EEOC complaint.

Lawsuit: TDCJ demotion wasn’t just due to faulty time sheets

07/03/2012

The former director of public information at the Texas Department of Crimi­nal Justice (TDCJ) is suing the agency after she was demoted and subsequently resigned. She says her demotion was retaliation for blowing the whistle on internal violations of state law and policy.

Assumptions about disability cost Dallas company $50,000

07/03/2012
Stevens Transport, a Dallas-area trucking company, has agreed to pay $50,000 to settle EEOC charges that it refused to hire a paraplegic man for a management position due to his disability.

4 FMLA strategy tips: How to certify intermittent leave

07/03/2012
Managing FMLA intermittent leave can be vexing, but employers do have some tools to combat leave abuse. One of the most important is FMLA certification. Here are four tips on certifying FMLA intermittent leave requests:

Title VII complaints involving nonemployees aren’t protected

07/03/2012

When an employee complains she is being harassed, that’s protected activity that cannot be punished. Like­­wise, complaining that a co-worker is being harassed is protected activity. But it’s not protected activity if an employee complains that someone not connected with the employer is being harassed.

When employee complains of harassment, act fast to fix it

07/03/2012
Resolve every sexual harassment complaint ASAP. That way, it won’t come back to haunt you.